WATTS, Douglas Frances

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Douglas Frances Watts on Sunday, August 21, 2016 at the age of 61 years. He is survived by his children, Donnie (Jerome) Watts-Ruffin, Amanda Watts McKenna. (Ryan McKenna), Christine, the mother of his children and his good friend Rhonda Oson. Dougie is also survived by his siblings, Shirley (Joseph) O’Brien, Howard (Lorraine), Gerry (Sandi), Norma (Robert) Panting, Dianne (Grant) Pye, Wanda (Allan) McInnis, Gloria (Ian) MacLeod , sister-in-law Betty Watts and by aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents Kathleen and Joseph Watts, brothers, William, Donald (twin) and a brother and sister in infancy. Resting at the Hennessey Cutcliffe Charlottetown Funeral Home until Thursday morning, then transferred to St. Michael’s Church, Corran Ban for funeral mass at 10:30 a.m. Interment will follow in the St. Michael’s Parish Cemetery. Visiting hours will be held on Wednesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. If so desired memorial contributions may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society. On-line condolences may be made at www.islandowned.ca.

Belgian musician Toots Thielemans, who turned the lowly harmonica into a virtuoso jazz instrument during an illustrious career that saw him perform with such legends as Charlie Parker, has died. He was 94.

Thielemans, who also made a mark on pop culture with solos on movies and the theme for TV’s “Sesame Street,” died in his sleep in a Belgian hospital on Monday, his manager said. He was hospitalized last month after a fall, but had been in good spirits after an operation on his shoulder.

“He was so happy. He was doing well,” manager Veerle Van de Poel said.

“We were very surprised” by his passing, she said. “He was sleeping, and he did not wake this morning.”

Thielemans hung up his harmonica in 2014 as health problems made it more difficult for him to take to the stage.

Although his name wasn’t widely known outside the jazz world, many heard his harmonica playing, including generations of children who grew up with the opening theme to “Sesame Street.”

His harmonica was also prominently featured on movie soundtracks, including those of the Oscar-winning “Midnight Cowboy,” ”The Pawnbroker,“”Jean de Florette,“and ”The Sugarland Express.“Also adept as a whistler, he could be heard on the Old Spice after-shave commercials. He performed and recorded with Benny Goodman, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Paul Simon and Billy Joel, among many others.

Despite suffering from asthma much of his life, Thielemans breathed artistic life into an instrument many dismiss as a toy. In the jazz world, he was the first to use the harmonica to blow complex bebop lines. He played a custom-made Hohner chromatic harmonica - different from the diatonic harmonica used by blues players - which has a slide making it possible to play three octaves in all keys.

“It’s such a freak of an instrument,” Thielemans said in a 1992 AP interview. “There’s technical obstacles to how fast and legato you can play . ... What I’ve spent my time on is to try to find things that are playable on the instrument. This is not a good instrument but I blow my brains out on it.”

His zest for life was apparent in his only major hit that moved into the popular mainstream the upbeat “Bluesette” which he first recorded in 1962, on which he showcased his signature style of whistling and playing guitar in unison.

“If there’s a piece that describes me, song,” he told The AP.

Thielemans was beloved in his native Belgium, not least because he always took pride in his humble background growing up in Brussels’ Marolles neighbourhood.

He was ennobled by Belgium’s King Albert II with the title of baron in 2001 and received the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters award in 2009, the nation’s highest jazz honour.

Belgium’s royal family said it was “deeply moved by (the) passing away of Toots Thielemans, one of the greatest jazzmen.”

“We have lost a great musician, a heartwarming personality. All my thoughts are with the family and friends of Toots Thielemans,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted.

Born in Brussels on April 29, 1922, Jean-Baptiste Frederic Isidore Thielemans began playing the accordion at age 3.

He discovered jazz after the German occupation began in 1940. But after sitting in with local combos, his friends advised him to get “a real instrument.”

He taught himself to play guitar, mostly by listening to records of the legendary Belgian-born Gypsy jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt.

When he took out his harmonica again after about two years, Thielemans said it was like discovering “an old friend.”

In 1945, as he was making a name for himself as a guitarist in local jazz clubs and dance halls, friends decided that his given name wasn’t hip enough. So he became “Toots.”

A jazz festival held in his name was due to take place from Sept. 9-11 in the town of La Hulpe, about 25 kilometres (16 miles) southeast of Brussels, where Thielemans lived.